Turkey's ruling party has announced plans to train thousands of supporters in Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram as it attempts to harness the power of social media
to its advantage.

The Justice and Development party, also known as AKP, has been challenged recently by a younthful protest movement which has used the new technology to communicate during demonstrations.

In the past the microblogging site Twitter has been denounced by party officials as a menace that helps promote civil disobiednece, but the latest move indicates an acceptance of the influence of new technology.

A senior party official told the Financial Times: "This is volunteer work. The idea is to command the social media to reach as wide as possible.”

In March local elections will be held in Istanbol, Turkey's largest city and the centre of heated protests this summer which challenged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.

Mr Erdogan has in the past called for Twitter to set up an office in Turkey - a move opponents said was an attempt to increase his control over the site - as well as demand it turned over the identities of some users. Twitter declined to do either.